[SOLVED] Best way to hook up old HD's to a PC.

[JUDGE DREDD2013]

Can someone give advice on the best way to hook up some old PC Hard Drives to a PC?

I found four old HD's in a drawer and I would like to see if there is anything on them. Three have the old type of pin connector and one a SATA connector. I am running Windows Ten Pro 64.

I was thinking of a cable or something rather than a enclosure.

Thanks

 

[jay32267]

Most likely you can just power down and connect the SATA one and see what's on it.

The ones with the pins are called IDE drives.

If you don't have a computer than connects to them...you can buy IDE adapters that connect through USB I believe.

 

[rgd1101]

external hdd dock

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you just want to check, what's on those drives, then use external USB adapter for connecting sata/pata drives.

If you want to actually use those drives on a desktop pc, then ...
For SATA drive - use sata data and sata power cables to connect it to a desktop pc.
For PATA drive - get PCIE PATA controller card and connect drive using pata cable and molex power plug.

 

[geofelt]

You can find USB to sata and usb to IDE adapters.
Since old 3.5" hard drives need extra power to power up, you need a powered adapter.
Perhaps something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MVRS38...&pd_rd_r=3f4cc0e5-a716-400f-96ab-dba069d37b9e

 

[Nice Nicer]

Those USB Adapters, do they need aditional Power from a Molex connector ? I have external DVD Drives with IDE and would like to use them occasionally.

 

[geofelt]

Those USB Adapters, do they need aditional Power from a Molex connector ? I have external DVD Drives with IDE and would like to use them occasionally.

Such adapters will use a wall plug and adapter for power like the one I linked.
I think it would work with a IDE drive

 

[Nice Nicer]

Yes, it works ! 😁 Had to Turn on the Power Supply first and then connect the USB adapter. Then i could read DVDs and CDs. Thanks !

 

[lvt]

Can someone give advice on the best way to hook up some old PC Hard Drives to a PC?

I found four old HD's in a drawer and I would like to see if there is anything on them. Three have the old type of pin connector and one a SATA connector. I am running Windows Ten Pro 64.

I was thinking of a cable or something rather than a enclosure.

Thanks

You should dump them all but the SATA.

The IDE HDD has max transfer rate of 133MB/s while the lowest SATA has 300MB/s.

If you have USB 3.0, you can buy this adapter for your SATA HDD. It comes with a 12V wall adapter for the power.

 

[Nice Nicer]

It might be a bit easier to just put the SATA Drive in a computer . E-Sata could also be used if it is a 2,5 inch drive ( the smaller kind used for Laptops and such things ).